The proper tool can save time, save money, produce a higher quality job, reduce damage to equipment, and provide for the increased safety of the worker. A cut-off grinder is one common tool seen in many lines of work. They are often used in the construction and metal working industry for cutting various types of metal or even plastics and composite materials as well. The abrasive cutoff wheel wears itself down as it “grinds” through the material. However, such discs tend to vibrate at high RPM's. Such vibration then leads to distortion of the grinding disc which in turn leads to uneven surfaces and excessive material removal. Often times when articles are cut or grinded, the worker must perform the task at an angle due to the fact that the fastening hardware for the abrasive disk does not allow a smooth and flush cut. This excessive material removal means that there is often not enough material left behind to weld, re-weld or perform other machining operations. Additionally there has been difficultly in suitably securing the grinding disks to a backing plate of the cut-off grinder in a manner this withstands the vibrations of heavy grinding operations.
Various attempts have been made to overcome this problem and provide a stable mounting surface for grinding disks. These attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. Patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,078,120, issued in the name of Beth and U.S. Patent, issued in the name of Larsson, describe improved grinding disks having mountable disk bodies with a plurality of bonded abrasive sectors and a rigid disk shaped backing plate. U.S. Pat. No. 2,789,402, issued in the name of Tocci-Guilbert et al., describes an improved back plate for supporting abrasive disks for rotary sanders and grinder. U.S. Pat. No. 2,480,886, issued in the name of Stever, describes an abrasive disk support comprising a backing pad for firmly connected the abrasive disk to a rotary tool. U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,783, issued in the name of Konig et al., describes an arrangement for fastening a grinding plate of a grinding apparatus comprising a grinding sheet and clamping elements that are rotatably retained to the grinding disk and the rotary tool, thus enabling the grinding sheet to rotate independently of the grinding disk, which is utilized in the automobile industry for rubbing down automobile bodies. U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,811, issued in the name of Krondorfer et al., describes a grinding machine tool support comprising a tool receptacle and a lock nut slaving device by which an insert tool such as a grinding wheel is operatively connected to the drive shaft of the rotary tool.
Additionally, ornamental designs for grinding wheels and discs exist, particularly, U.S. Pat. Nos. D 277,486 and D 444,483. However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffers from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which the above mentioned disadvantages associated with the use of cut-off wheels can be addressed. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.